Boost colours with adjustments

12 steps to a fantastically colourful landscape, whether in Photoshop or Elements!

1. Fix the dull sky

Open your picture and grab the Magic Wand (W). Set its tolerance to 25, tick the Contiguous and Anti-alias boxes and click on Add Selection. Now click over the sky until you have all of it selected.

2. Throw up some clouds

With the sky selected, create a new layer. Set the foreground to #2D6333 and the background to #FFFFFF. Open Filter>Render>Clouds. For a more realistic effect, open Filter>Blur>Motion Blur, set the angle to 0 degrees and the Distance to 998.

3. Grab the ocean

To select the ocean, click on the image layer and pick up the Magic Wand tool again. Set the Tolerance value to 30 and tick the Contiguous and Anti-alias boxes again. Click on Add Selection and click over the ocean until you select the whole area.

4. Add a soft light

Click on the New Adjustment Layer at the top of the Layers palette and choose the Gradient Fill. Click on Edit Gradient Box. Change the first colour stop to #1E4966 and the second to #4699D3. Alter the layer’s blend mode to Soft Light.

5. Select the trees and bushes

Click on the Image Layer and choose the Quick Selection tool then ensure Add to Selection is selected. Vary the brush size and then draw over the bushes and trees to select.

6. Brighten it up

We need to make the bushes and trees brighter. Click on the New Adjustment Layer at the top of the layers palette and choose Brightness/Contrast. Increase the brightness to 70.

7. Select the aisle

Repeat the selection process for the aisle. Choose the Quick Selection tool from the toolbox and draw over the aisle and the spaces between the fence to select.

8. Raise the colour

We need to add some colour to the aisle to create a better contrast. Click on New Adjustment Layer at the top of the layers palette and choose Hue/Saturation. Tick the Colourise box, changing the Hue to 30 and the Saturation to 20.

9. Mix up the tools

You can combine two selection tools to select different objects. Start by using the Polygonal Lasso to select the roof and then choose the Quick Selection, or Selection Brush in Elements, and draw over the fence to select it too,

10. Adjust hue and saturation

With the fence and roof selected, click on New Adjustment Layer at the top of the layers palette and then choose Hue/Saturation. Tick the Colourise box and change the Hue to 40 and the Saturation to 25.

11. Hit the beach

On the image layer, choose the Magic Wand and select the beach. Click on New Adjustment Layer and choose Levels. Move the middle marker to 0.68, as this will help to bring back some of the lost details in the selected areas.

12. Finish up

The image is a little dark, so let’s use the Adjustment layer to increase the Brightness. Click on the Adjustment layer and choose Brightness/Contrast, then increase the Brightness to 50 and decrease the Contrast to -30 to achieve a subtle photograph effect. Add a beige new layer with Soft Light blend mode for an extra Lomo effect.